4-Rotor Simplicity At The Tsukuba Super Battle

Great engineering coupled with simplicity – that’s always a recipe for success in my eyes. And nothing could possibly ever rival the overall basic layout of a rotary engine, especially when presented in naturally aspirated form.

Okay, maybe an electric car could claim to have an even simpler layout, but let’s stick to combustion engines for argument’s sake. This Scoot Sports-built FD3S at the Rev Speed Super Battle truly shined; not only for the unrivaled beauty and ferocious performance a well modified RX-7 can have, but because of the noise it makes. There are very few things in the motoring world that sound as sweet as a quad-rotor Wankel.

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Its owner, Yuuki Kamakura, has challenged himself to build a car to rival what he deems the best naturally aspirated RX-7 ever built: RE-Amemiya’s three-rotor GT machine. And the white FD was getting plenty of attention in the Tsukuba paddock from both the Rev Speed magazine staff as well as other tuners present on the day.

Yuuki managed a 58.884 lap, which although very impressive puts him a good four seconds off the Amemiya car’s record pace. In this time bracket that’s a pretty considerable margin; the difference between a highly-tuned, stripped-out track car and a properly engineered, aero-laden record-breaker.

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But it’s cool that Yuuki has set himself such a big goal, and he’s obviously got himself a really impressive base to begin with. Because if Under Suzuki can do it, anyone can, right?

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With over 600 screaming horses propelling 1,083.5kg of mass, it seems the logical step forward would be to go big on aero. After all, that’s something common to all FDs in Japan that have achieved 54-second laps at Tsukuba.

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The car already runs a wide body kit, a functional Voltex GT wing, rear diffuser and front splitter, but adding to this may well be Yuuki’s next move.

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The suspension is courtesy of Crux Engineering, a Japanese firm that caters primarily to motorsports, and there’s a decent amount of chassis stiffening around the turrets, not to mention the custom roll-cage with gusset plates up the pillars.

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Carbon fiber doors are always a great way to shave off a considerable amount of weight.

The overall theme of well executed simplicity is carried over into the interior where the main dash has been retained but covered in suede to eliminate windscreen reflections. Meanwhile, the stock instrumentation is joined by a few auxiliary gauges.

If the shifter looks interesting, it’s because it actuates a Quaife sequential transmission.

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I’m sure Yuuki and Koseki-san of Scoot will continue to improve this car and hopefully we’ll see it pop up again in the various time attack events that are scheduled for the (cold) months we have ahead us in Japan.

Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: speedhunters_dino
dino@speedhunters.com

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1

so fucking tasty. love the 99+ updated tach

2

Love this car. An FD built like this is one of my bucket list cars. On the note of aerodynamics do these guys employ a flat floor underbody? It's funny to see how many people go through the trouble of having a front splitter / rear diffuser / wing, yet very few people actually take care to design a proper underbody which is where actual downforce is created!

Any info or pictures?

3

It's not that easy to use a fully functional flat floor, you would need to take into account the cooling of the transmission and exhaust, and also the radiant heat between the floor and the underside of the car, where usually, the fuel and brake lines will run. Not as straightforward as mounting a front splitter

Author4
Dino Dalle Carbonare

Aerodynamically it's pretty damn simple which is a great reminder of how fat this chassis can be pushed. I think and underfloor may well be one of the next things Yuuki will need to look at in order to go faster.

5

That would be a good move. TBH if the rules permit it a flat floor is one of the first things you should start with. Curve floors can get very complicated and are very sensitive in some cases to ride height, ramp profile design and a host of other factors so they are much harder to design effectively.

I like this car and would like to see how it grows over time.

6

Dino, you’re teasing us. I’ve seen (and heard) this car on YouTube and it sounded glorious.

How about a movie next time?

Keep up the good work!

Author7
Dino Dalle Carbonare

I'm sure Yuuki wouldn't mind doing a film with this car...

8

The third to last picture, an interior shot. What's up with what looks like antifreeze/screenwash looking bottle just strapped down?

Author9
Dino Dalle Carbonare

Catch can

10

Rims?

11

Advan GT

12

Nr1!

13

Whoa whoa whoa... Do I see this right? Did he remove certain stickers from a blog site he used to support?

Author14
Dino Dalle Carbonare

I wouldn't know

15

Simplicity... A decade of speedhunting really warps your standards I guess xD

Author16
Dino Dalle Carbonare

Haha, he's gotten rid of all the complex stuff

17

Amazing for a kid to do all this. Tuned in for more updates on this FD

Author18
Dino Dalle Carbonare

It was done with help from Scoot

19

Dream car goals!

Author20
Dino Dalle Carbonare

Yeah 4-rotor engines are indeed the things of dreams

21

Really;.....no video??

22

Its funny to see this on Speedhunters based on the owner's affiliation with a brand whose owner is a massive d-bag. Amazing photography as usual Dino!

23

No more 4-rotor posts without video, it's not right.

24

What engine is the 4 rotor based on, 13B or 12A? More specs on the engine build would be nice. You tell us the HP but not the displacement.

25

13B from what I understand. They call the 4-rotors a 26B most of the time.

26

It was great seeing the build of Yuuki's FD for the past couple years from 7tune, it's made it quite the way.

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